IST256

IST256 Programming for the Web. The focus of the course is development of rich Internet applications, and exposure to a range of design and development tools and techniques for the World Wide Web. Take a look at the video introduction to the course and unit 1.

Please note: For SPR15 semester there is no required "student introduction discussion forum post as mentioned in the video. Also, you will see references to "IST297i", "IST251", the Angel classroom, and other past semester residue, please simply overlook this as I have not had the chance just yet to update the course intro video. For current specifics in the class and classroom policy for SPR15, refer to the course syllabi listed under Course Materials. Only the pdf available here is the binding doc for SPR15, not the images in the video.

Video: Dr. Greg O'Toole introduces the course and unit 1. Refer to the syllabus pdf in course materials for details.

This is a hands-on course designed to help students learn to program a practical, data-driven, dynamic Web applications using contemporary, industry-leading development methods. In this course, we will cover the following major topics as much as time allows:

Linux

Apache

MySQL

PHP

SQL

JavaScript/jQuery

XML

HTTP and other protocols

Web-markup and display languages, basic web page construction

Client-server architectures

Client-side and server-side programming

Data-driven websites

Information architecture

Standards and standards bodies

Managing an organization's Web presence

Web vulnerabilities/security

Code Repositories/Versioning

Please note: There are two (2) sections of IST256 this semester. Both sections will use this site.

When you are ready to begin working on the labs for class, take a look at this quick video overview of Codecademy. This will give you a clarification on each of the steps in the lab completion process from registering a user account on codecademy.com to turning in your codecademy profile URL in the discussion forums on openwebby.com. Please be encouraged to post any questions or comments you have in the comments module below the video.

Does code indenting matter?

Wednesday, August 16, 2017 - 13:59

Yes, code indenting matters. In some languages your proper indentation of code will affect whether or not your code works as expected. HTML and CSS are not this strict, but indenting still matters. It is recommended to get into the practice of indenting sub elements of code, meaning, as you know by now the <head> section of your HTML is inside of your <html> section, so the <head> should be indented one tab space in, like so:

<html>
<head>...

This is good practice because you want to always be writing clean code that is properly structured. This also helps in troubleshooting your code. For example, what is wrong with this code?

<!DOCTYPE
html><html><head><title>Title of the document<title>
</head><body>
The content of the document.</body></html>

It's hard to tell, right? Now look at the same code properly formatted with clean structure. Of course, now the error is highlighted in orange, but you get the point.

Clean code is also important for working on a team. If you hand off messy code to another designer, developer, or programmer on your team at work, you'll hear about it! Code indenting is good practice and it takes no extra effort. So start doing it now. You'll be glad later.

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